I need help with domain names/website

[The Pirate]

Alright, I am interested in making a more professional website for myself. I have worked with HTML before and some JavaScript in Freewebs.com and their WebEdit program, but I have never made anything outside that site. The domain name I think I am interested in looks like it is for sale, I think at least. I am a complete novice at this sort of thing and I am completely lost. I have a few questions about it.


If you buy a domain name, you do not have to pay monthly fees do you?
If you own a domain name, how can you edit your website? Do you have to buy another program or transfer/upload program of some sort?
How can I tell how much bandwith I get? How can I get unlimited?
Can I use Paypal.com to pay for a domain name?
Anything else you think I should know.


When I visit the website I am interested in it says


Notice: This domain name expired on 07/03/06 and is pending renewal or deletion
This page is parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com
Are you interested in this domain? Get it at DomainNameAfterMarket.com

When I tried looking at their site and registering it wants me to pay monthly fees to their website. So I thought I should ask teh TAO community how to do this the right way without subscriptions draining my money.

EDIT: If you guys own a website, and got a good deal from the company could you please post their site? Basically I am looking for a company like freewebs.com, but a .com.

[Hatchet Klown]

Depending on where you go domains should run you anwhere from 3.95/year to 10.95/ year.

On a smaller site hosting should run you 7.50-10.00 /month. Apart from a single mishap with chronic hosting (www.chronichosting.com) I have used them for over 4 years now. Jeffery recommends www.webonce.com. We all have our favorites, and preferred sites. Just shop around for the best price, and be sure that it comes with a fully built cPanel. If not it's best to go to a company that is a little more expensive but will make your life ooooh so much easier.

[endless]

GoDaddy.com usually had good prices, but what do i know? :P You beat me this time HK, series tied 1-1.

EDIT: If you guys own a website, and got a good deal from the company could you please post their site? Basically I am looking for a company like freewebs.com, but a .com.
Do you mean like geocities? www.geocities.com

[The Pirate]

Thanks, I was looking at chronichosting's pricing and description of what you get. I need a little help learning how much space I actually need. I was planning on a site about the same size as tacticsarena, with a vBforum and all. I have a game to be added once it is compelete, but I am going to have it hosted on newgrounds upon release so I could have my "play game" link go straight to newgrounds. Would a starter plan (250 MB Storage Space 12 GB Bandwidth, 40 Subdomains, 40 MySQL Databases & Hosting Toolkit) be right for me? Or do I need more space for what I plan on having?

[endless]

That should be easly enough for what you planning to do.. And i mean WAY more.

[Hatchet Klown]

A site the size of TAO? You're kidding right? TAO has multiple dedicated servers bro. If you are looking to make something that over 20k dynamic users are going to visit daily then by all means get a dedicated server.

www.thearcadianknights.com is the website that myself, eatmine and Uni (in the beginning) put together. That ran on the 7.50/month plan, and we had some extra bandwidth every month.

[endless]

She said she was going to link to other places, for example Newgrounds, and VB. No way would she ever get 20k hits.

[Hatchet Klown]

Link to them, thats all great. No need for the size servers TAO has for a website just starting up. Start small, if you go over your bandwidth you can always upgrade, or just buy more BW.

[EricH]

The domain being for sale means little. It'll cost you atleast 4k to buy it. You need to find one that isn't registered yet.

[Jeffery]

1) Never buy domain and hosting through the same company
2) Check out http://webhostingtalk.com or http://freewebhostingtalk.com
3) Domain purchase and webhosting are different, although some hosting packages come bundled with domain name (still bad idea to get both from the same company)
4) As E4ric said, don;t try and buy an already registered domain. Search until you find a good name not yet used. (costs $3-$9 a year)
5) Do not even look at any sellers that offer "unlimited" or "unmetered" anything.
6) Cheap hosts are just that, cheap. Do not expect good support and/or long term hosting to last at one

If you want to start out with a free hosting company until you get your feet wet, try http://webtwice.com
Although, as Hatchet said, I prefer http://webonce.com , and right now they are having a triple bandwidth/diskspace special.